Tree-Ring Dating of Wood Elements of Daejojeon, Changdukgung

창덕궁 대조전 목부재의 연륜연대 측정

Tree-ring chronologies can be used to date historical buildings and furniture by matching them with the chronologies of living trees or previously dated samples. Tree-ring dating gives a calender year to each tree ring and produces the felling dates of logs or woods which had been used for buildings. In Korea, several chronologies of Japanese red pine(Pinus densiflora Sieb. et Zucc.,'sonamu' in Korean), a major species for the wooden building materials, have been developed and used for dating historical buildings. Daejojeon of Changduck Palace is known to be reconstructed in A.D. 1920 after burned-out in A.D. 1917. Instead of new woods, Daejojeon was reconstructed by reusing the woods of Kyotaejeon in Kyungbok Palace. We sampled total of 26 wood samples which were replaced during the repair process of Daejojeon in 1995. Felling dates of the samples were determined by the dendrochronological crossdating method. Crossdating method employs graphic comparison of the master patterns (ring-width plots of living trees or known dates) with those of the sample chronologies of unknown dates. The cutting dates of Daejojeon woods were divided in two groups. One was the late 1860s and the other 1880s. The results confirmed that Kyotaejeon was reconstruced first in the A.D 1860s and then in late 1880s after burning out in 1876.